The field of the invention is a braking system for inline skates. Inline skates are increasing in popularity, but a satisfactory system for slowing down the travel of such skates has been elusive. The most common approach is a brake pad which is positioned at the rear of the skate. When the skater wishes to slow down, he tips the boot portion rearwardly so that the pad contacts the skating surface and frictionally slows down the skater.
There have been numerous patents issued on braking systems for exerting a braking force on one or more wheels. One such patent is applicant""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,015. A brake member 22 is pivotally held by the frame and has a curved forward brake surface 26 and a curved rear brake surface 27. These brake surfaces abut brake drum members 28 and 29 to cause a braking action when activated. It is preferably activated with the rearward pivoting of a horseshoe shaped member 15.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,673 utilizes a remote control which, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, cause a pad 145 to rub against a pad-engaging structure 165.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,231 shows a brake which is activated when the skater rocks the boot of the skate backward. This puts pressure on the heel of the boot, which is translated into pressure on the brake pads 30. These provide rolling resistance via drums 41 and tires 42.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,974, as shown in FIG. 18, utilizes a brake drum 252 contacted by brake pad 250 when the brake is actuated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,419 shows in FIG. 5 a flexible horseshoe arrangement which wraps around a steel drum 46 carried by the wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,468 shows a hydraulic fluid operated braking system which is controlled via a radio frequency transmitter. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, brake pads 49 are caused to move inwardly and contact web 39 to cause the wheel to cause a braking action for movement of the skate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,019 shows in FIG. 2 a pair of brake pads 20A and 20B which contact discs 21A and 21B causing a braking action.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,197 utilizes a turning, non-circular rod 8 which causes a pair of brake shoes 9 to contact a pair of brake pads 16.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,323 shows in FIG. 4 a flexible horseshoe brake collar which causes the collar to rub against a brake drum.
None of the prior art designs have found wide acceptance in the inline skate field. Many of the designs are too elaborate and, thus, expensive and prone to defects. Other designs do not dissipate the heat generated by braking satisfactorily and a better design is needed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a brake for inline skates which is both inexpensive to manufacture and also is capable of dissipating the heat generated by the braking action.
The present invention is for a brake assembly for inline skates. The assembly has a movable brake arm supported by the wheel frame of the inline skates. The movable brake arm is movable between a pre-running position and a braking position. At least one braking wheel is supported by the wheel frame. The braking wheel has a rotating brake ring held by the wheel, which brake ring has an outwardly facing circular contact surface positioned so that it is contacted by a friction area of the movable brake arm when the movable brake arm is in a braking position and wherein the contact surface of the rotating brake ring has a brake pad surface thereon. Preferably, the brake contact surface on the rotating brake ring is shaped so that it positions the movable brake arm in a desired lateral location. A shape such as a concave shape on the brake ring and a mating convex shape on the brake arm is contemplated as is a V-shaped or cup-shaped configuration. Preferably, the rotating brake ring is molded into the hub portion of the wheel and preferably, is made from a brake pad material which tends to be more insulative than a movable brake arm fabricated from steel. Thus, the heat at the friction area between the movable brake arm and the rotating brake ring is carried away largely by the metal movable brake arm. The rotating brake ring may extend out of both sides of a braking wheel and there may be more than one braking wheel.